Jersey City Theater Center is preparing its 2nd annual 10-day “Voices International Theatre Festival” from Thursday, Oct. 15, to Sunday, Oct. 25. The virtual program will feature 24 productions from 20 countries with many taking a look at the fractured state of the world this past year.
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Live and recorded full productions will be viewable online. Productions include 21 theatre companies from Europe, Eastern Europe, South Asia, Asia, the Middle East, Africa and the US (NY-NJ). The program will be co-hosted by Jersey City. Viewers will have a chance to meet the artists presenting their works.
“Our mission is to be an annual festival that is as local as it is global,” says Olga Levina, artistic director of JCTC.
Premiering on Oct. 15 at 2 p.m. is “Alone” by Belarus Free Theatre (England). “Alone” tells the story of the political awakening of one of Ukraine’s biggest popstars, Andrei Khluvniuk, lead singer of the hip-hop rock group, Boombox. From speaking out against the Kremlin and costing himself millions of fans across Russia to calling for the immediate release of Oleg Sentsov and more than one hundred Ukrainian political prisoners held in Russia’s prisons, the documentary by Emmy Award-winning British film-maker Andrew Smith walks a fine line between politics and how music can make a difference.
On Friday, Oct. 16 at 2 p.m., “Shoes & Coups – A Paradox of the Absurd,” by Palesa Mazamisa (South Africa), uses humor, irony, exaggeration, and ridicule to illustrate the politics of idealism and power. “Shoes & Coups” shines a light on when those who are entrusted to lead a nation disregard and mock the privilege of leadership and how such misconduct destroys the ability of a nation to reconstruct itself.
The Jersey City Theater Center will present “Shunya Se,” by Ranan, on Saturday, Oct. 17 at 10 a.m. Ranan is a kathak-based performance company. Kathak are the five elements that make up the universe and that resonate within the human body. “Shunya Se” focuses on the elements of space, air, fire, water, and earth, and tries to discover and extend a reflection within the kathak dance form and the kathak informed body.
Festival passes with all-access are $120. For tickets, which are $10 for individual virtual shows, go to jctcenter.org.
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